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In this article, journalist Nick Morrison considers whether headteachers in Britain must have been teachers first to be effective. While some say headteachers should have the industry experience that comes from being a classroom teacher, others disagree. They say that headteachers can gain such knowledge through classroom observations and time. They say it is important that school leadership teams include someone with teaching experience -- but it does not have to be the head.

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In response to the rise in texting among students, officials in England are proposing a draft secondary-school curriculum that reintroduces an emphasis on handwriting instruction. The draft standards would require students to be able to write accurate business and personal letters by hand and in upper grades "increase the range of their writing" and use "accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar."

Schools in Israel have adopted a teaching method pioneered in the US in which they focus on teaching reading and writing to improve literacy. In such classrooms, teachers promote reading by stocking classroom libraries and dividing material by reading level. Students are assigned to a particular level. "We believe that children will learn to read by reading and by discussing and writing about a text," said Shanna Schwartz, who coaches teachers in the instructional method.

David Dodgson, a primary-school teacher in Turkey, in this interview discusses the benefits of using creativity in the classroom. When teaching his students English-language skills, Dodgson says that some of his students seemed uninterested in lessons before being allowed to work on their own videos, sketches and mock news reports.

In England, headteachers say they are concerned that many of them could leave the profession following recent criticism. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the new head of Ofsted, said 5,000 headteachers were underperforming and criticised them for the state of education in some schools. However, Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said many headteachers could quit amid "constant denigration".

Student-teaching in a real classroom is the only way to learn to be an effective teacher, according to a National Board Certified Teacher who is hosting a student-teacher for the first time this year. Sarah Henchey, a middle-school teacher, says she plans to use the experience to share her own experiences and to learn from her student-teacher. "I can only hope that, in the end, both she and I will have gained insights into what it takes to be an accomplished teacher," Henchey writes.